He turned to face the door, the gentle knocks on the wall followed by the door sliding open enough for his older sibling to poke her head through, the light coating of ice cracking as the door moved. Her shoulder-length white hair had crimson highlights scattered throughout, and her stone colored eyes met his through her rectangular, half-rim glasses. A small sad smile was on her face as she called to him.

"Hey Shoto, Dad's working the night again, and Natsuo said he had a study group. Looks like it's just you and me for dinner again, and I made your favorite." She winked at him conspiratorially. "Don't tell Natsuo, you know how annoyed he gets when we don't save any soba for him."

"Go ahead and eat. I'll eat later." He turned away from the door, the left half of his bare back exposed, the right side covered in a thickening layer of ice. He heard more of the ice crunch as Fuyumi opened the door further, and stepped into the room. He elected to ignore her, focusing on forcing his ice to encroach on his left side. He was sweating from the effort, his damp red hair sticking to his scalp.

"Shoto," his sister began, "I know that you want to be a hero, and I get you need to train, but you can't even take a break to eat with your sister?" Her soft voice trembled as she spoke, but he didn't hear anymore ice breaking, so she must have decided not to move any closer. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

"Shoto, please." Barely a whisper this time. He still made no indication that he had heard her. After a minute, he heard her turn and walk back out the door, a quiet "I'll put the leftovers in the usual place" were her only words as the door shut.

He still made no outward movement besides breathing, turquoise and ash eyes focused on his own body, and ice cold fury coursing through him. His mother's ice wasn't strong enough, it wasn't enough to win the first exercise of the year, despite all his training with it. Worse still, he couldn't coat his left side with it, his father's infernal quirk resisting his efforts to choke it out. The more he tried to smother the flame, the more it seemed to push back, almost like it was getting stronger just to challenge the ice. 'That fits though. That bastard always has to be the strongest in the room. Why would his quirk be any different?' The teen thought, the venomous thought infuriating him further.

He winced and stopped generating the ice, letting the quirk go for a few seconds. His right side had gone numb a while ago, but he was still far from hypothermic, let alone frostbitten, but he would have to stop for a little bit, or else he would be needing his father's fire to get thawed. He breathed out hard, his panting creating puffs of steam in the frozen air.

He slammed his right foot into the ground, ice exploding. He was better than him, and he would prove it. He would be the number one without using that damn fire. A snarl on his face, he raged, silent in the ice covered room. On the other side of the door, Fuyumi Todoroki sat curled up in a ball, quietly sobbing as what little remained of her family drifted further and further apart.


"God dammit!"

The roar of rage was heard by almost no one, the park empty in the night. The blonde teen was covered in sweat, his shoulders and chest heaving as he panted. He wore a pair of loose exercise shorts and a black tank top, his head thrown back to the sky, crimson eyes alight with fury. He had gone running after returning home from his detention, too furious and not willing to even deal with his mother's equally short temper.

He wasn't angry at others, he couldn't be. They were extras, characters to be forgotten on his journey to the top. How could he be anything more than mildly annoyed at mere cannon fodder who weren't important enough to remember the names of? Punks who didn't fully understand their roles. He was angry at himself.

That icy bastard had looked down on him, damn him. The Ice Princess thought he could beat him without going all out, and on top of that, had been holding back another part of his quirk? The thought alone was enough to drive his blood pressure up, rapid miniature explosions popping off in his palms.

It hadn't taken all that much effort to prove he was stronger than the Ice Princess, it had barely been enough to start breaking a sweat. That in itself infuriated him. He stared at his glistening palms, his sweat slightly thicker than other people's.

He had earned the top score in the entrance exams, his quirk allowing him to ramp up as the exam went on, blowing away those robots and the rest of the scrubs in his area. The weaklings all ran from the big robot anyway. He had eagerly dodged around it, using the confusion and chaos it brought to really cut loose with explosion.

His quirk was perfect for him, a power that took effort to control. He sweated a nitroglycerin like substance and he was able to detonate it in his palms. A seemingly simple quirk, it was flashy and powerful, it was perfect for a modern day hero, focused on beating villains into submission.

That was what all those weaklings thought anyway.

He had put years into learning his quirk, and how much resistance he had to his own explosions. He had learned how to adjust his momentum, how to damn near fly, how to move his arms so that his sweat flowed down to his hands instead of flying off and being useless. His sweat was like nitroglycerin, but thankfully it didn't have some of the more stupid parts, like the shock sensitivity.

He had spent years training to get to UA, to surpass All Might and become the number one hero.

He was destined to stand at the summit, just as All Might had. He would surpass the Symbol of Peace, and show the world that he was even stronger than the man that had worked to pull it out of the chaos.

Only now, those extras didn't see it that way, they didn't see all the effort, sweat and tears he had put in. They only saw the Ice Princess and the beating he had delivered, as if heroes didn't leave trails of destruction and property damage in their wake. He shook his head and began to breathe deep, then clenched his fist at the sky.

"Fine. You all want to doubt me, go ahead. I'll show you that I'm going to be the number one hero." He growled the words to the night sky, a vow to the world itself, one day the world would know him. It would respect his strength, honor his drive, and yield to his will.


The waves lapped at the shore, gentle as they moved in and out, the moonlight shining in the surf. The pink haired teen sat on the sand, reclining back on his hands, legs folded as he stared at the sea. On the outside he was calm, but inside his thoughts were a tangled mess. Beside him, his best friend also stared at the sea, quiet in the early night.

He had hoped that his journey to becoming a great hero would be enjoyable, a dynamic rise of glory like All Might's had been. He had worked hard to get into UA, and trained his body to handle the formidable power that had been passed to him. That training had merely given him the ability to hold the power, actually using it was proving to be difficult.

He closed his eyes, and he could hear all the voices again.

"You're strong, so try to help others."

"You have the makings of a hero, a true hero."

"Can you accept that Yuji Itadori?"

"If you had zero potential, you would have been cut loose already."

Voices echoed through him, both familiar and unfamiliar. He stood up slowly, and walked forward until he knew that Junpei was several meters behind him. Breathing deeply and slowly he felt for One for All. The quirk activated and he could feel it more easily now. His body felt more alive, more responsive, like every nerve was on a hair trigger. He heard a gasp beside him and struggled not to open his eyes. As he stood there he found himself thinking back to All Might's analogy of an overflowing glass and thought that it didn't feel right.

When he first felt the power, it felt like a monster, completely uncontrollable. Now it was more like he was walking into a cage with a tiger. The quirk felt alive, a beast with its own will, and it didn't fully trust its new master yet. It felt like it wanted to rage and break free, and the wider he opened the cage door, the more violently it fought. His current limit was just enough for him to hold the tiger at the door, any more and it would overpower him, rampaging through his body, with his body.

He allowed the power to ramp up, the full force of eight generations of heroes coursing through him. In his mind, the tiger had forced the cage open and he was holding it back with his body, grappling with the beast. It roared and swung its massive paws, unable to effectively hit him, but he wasn't able to do more than hold it back.

In reality, he barely dared to breathe. It felt like if he twitched, he would make a massive crater on the beach. His muscles strained with the barely contained force. It felt like fire was coursing through his veins, but at the same time, a chill surrounded him from the outside. He fought with everything he had to force the beast back into the cage, while not moving a muscle.

He felt a warm and firm hand on his back, bracing him. The door swung shut and he heaved, forcing the tiger back within the cage. "No more than you can handle, Ninth. The time is not yet here." Echoed from behind him, and faded along with the helping hand on his back. The voice was familiar, he had heard it before, when he first activated One for All, but he had no idea who it belonged to. It reminded him of All Might, in that it was strong and kind, but it lacked his booming presence.

He opened his eyes, checking his hands to be sure that One for All was deactivated, and his body was back to its normal levels of strength. To his relief, the markings were not visible, the only visible indication he had to make sure that All Might's quirk was truly put away. He looked over and locked eyes with Junpei. The other teen was staring at him, an admirable impersonation of a gaping fish on his face.

'I didn't even do anything with the power,' Yuji thought sheepishly, 'What would he have thought if I could actually use all of One for All?' The thought bounced around in his head for a second, and he realized it was exactly what Mr. Aizawa was referencing during class. Yuji could barely keep the power active without hurting himself, what would happen if it was allowed to run rampant? It would be a cataclysm, the kind of destruction that hadn't been seen since All Might took the stage.

"You didn't tell me that your quirk gave you a transformation! You only said it had an activated state and that it made you stronger!" Junpei's accusing yell broke Yuji from his thoughts, and he shook his head as he met his friend's eyes again. Junpei was excited, his exposed eye shining in the moonlight, a massive smile stretching from ear to ear. He leapt to his feet and grabbed Yuji's shoulders, shaking him back and forth.

"This opens so many possibilities! We need to rename your quirk tonight! Then we can figure out your hero name! This changes everything, no wonder you've been ignoring my suggestions, not a single one makes sense with your quirk! Does anything else change?" As he continued to rave, Junpei continued to shake Yuji faster, decreasing the range of motion until Yuji's head was whipping back and forth. Junpei paid no attention to his friend's dazed expression and obvious whiplash. There were plans to be made, and every hero of the modern day needed an iconic name for their quirk.


The next morning Yuji walked into UA with Junpei, despite the ridiculously late night they had both experienced, they both looked excited to take on the day. The two had stayed up for hours analyzing Yuji's quirk and his appearance, discussing possible names and researching active and past heroes. Interestingly enough, Yuji had learned something new about when he activated All Might's quirk thanks to Junpei's observation and he desperately needed to talk to the pro about it.

"Remember to let your teacher know you need to update the quirk registry on your quirks' name." Junpei reminded Yuji for what felt like the hundredth time that morning alone.

"I will, I will. I'll probably miss lunch since I'll be doing that. You can sit with someone from your class today." While Yuji teased back at Junpei, his friend vehemently shook his head.

"No way, no one in my class is even as remotely nice as yours. They're all stuck up and act like the hero course students are tyrants that rule over the school." Junpei's grin was easy going even as he talked about his apparently holier-than-thou classmates.

"Sure, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Uraraka is on the shorter side?" Yuji laughed as he ran off, narrowly avoiding Junpei's desperate red-faced lunge. Yuji waved cheerily over his shoulder as he jogged to his classroom, a spluttering Junpei left in his wake.

As he walked into the classroom, he waved and said good morning to his new friends, before making his way to his seat behind Bakugo. The other teen eyed him the entire time, his crimson eyes glaring at Yuji until he passed him. 'Wonder what that was about?' Yuji thought as he sat down. He didn't have much time to mull it over as Mr. Aizawa walked in a few seconds later, getting their attention and starting class.

The perpetually tired hero pulled out a few papers as he waited for the class to quiet down, reading them over while the stragglers moved into their seats. Yuji noticed that he gave them one more once over before beginning to speak in the monotone he preferred.

"You still take too long to get in your seats. It took fifteen seconds for all of you to quiet down. We need to maximize our efficiency if we are going to get you prepared to be pro heroes in only three years." He eyed each of them in turn, then turned back to his papers. "First order of business. Itadori."

Yuji sat a little straighter as his teacher turned to him. "Due to your control issues, Recovery Girl has requested that you meet with a teacher to discuss extra lessons on how to control your quirk better. I agreed and we decided that you need to meet with All Might." The class exploded in whispers, open gawking and cries of favoritism. It all died upon seeing Aizawa's ruby eyes and floating hair.

"As I was saying," he continued "All Might is a master of control, especially in the strength department. You'll need to meet with him during lunch today. I'm sorry for intruding on that time, but we can't ignore your other studies, and while it is hero related, today's rescue training prep covers fundamentals we can't allow you to skip." Yuji blinked twice, surprised to have actually heard some remorse creep into Mr. Aizawa's voice. It was then he noticed that his teacher had grown a vicious smile and was staring at him.

"Since All Might is relatively new to teaching, and unlikely to know all the little things you could accidentally do while practicing, your training will also be overseen by another hero, and since the rest of the faculty are busy for the most part, Principal Nezu has volunteered to work with both you and All Might." Mr. Aizawa's tone seemed to shift, now gleeful as he delivered the apparently horrendous news, though Yuji couldn't quite figure out why.

"Uh, okay. So it's just going to be extra training right?" Yuji asked, thinking back to his time training with All Might. He had trained his body to be able to handle the power of One for All, and All Might's training regimen had been easy enough to follow, if a bit heavy on the portion sizes. Surely the extra training wouldn't be that bad?

Mr. Aizawa's grin grew even wider. "With the Principal involved, I have no doubts you'll see results, and I'm sure it's going to feel like that training was designed in the depths of hell. Try not to die."

Yuji felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He had known Mr. Aizawa for less than a week but there were two facts he could say he knew for certain about the teacher. He was able to sleep anywhere, and he did not lie to his students. If Mr. Aizawa was certain that Yuji was going to be in hell for this training, Yuji had no reason to doubt him. Swallowing heavily, he nodded and sank lower into his chair and glanced around the room. No one seemed envious of him any longer, some even looking like they pitied him.

"With that out of the way," Their teacher looked back at his notes, "We'll be covering more rescue operations this evening. Remember to review the scenario questions and memorize the questions to ask victims."

As Mr. Aizawa droned on Yuji, couldn't help but wonder what awaited him at lunch, and just what kind of monster would be the principal of the nation's top hero school?


The door to Principal Nezu's office swung inward, gliding on the hinges. The room was broad and spacious with the entire opposite wall covered in window panels. Across the room, two black sofas faced each other with a coffee table in the center. Between them and the windows was a large desk, with a high backed chair turned toward the windows. Yuji spotted the large form of All Might on one of the sofas, beckoning him to come and take a seat opposite him.

"Young Itadori," All Might boomed "Take a seat! I suspect we'll take up most of your lunch break. I apologize for that, but it can't be helped. I took the liberty of bringing you something to eat while we discuss your future training." All Might gestured to the coffee table, where a school lunch tray sat, loaded with food.

Yuji sank into the seat, and nodded gratefully to the hero before responding. "It's alright. I was actually planning on asking you about updating my quirk registry information during lunch today, so I might be able to kill two birds with one stone this way." Yuji leaned over and carefully started to eat some of the food. He could see meatballs on the tray and he would admit he had a soft spot for them. It was one of the foods his grandfather had taught him how to make for himself, teaching him special ways to spice the meat and how to cook them to perfection.

"And just why would you need to update your quirk registration Mr. Itadori? More specifically, why would you need to ask All Might about that?" A new voice spoke now, high pitched and soft, yet it seemed amused. More importantly, the source of the voice was right beside All Might.

Glancing up, Yuji noticed that seated next to All Might was another figure he had initially missed, completely hidden by All Might's bulk when he had entered the room. The most important thing, he decided, was that the speaker wasn't human. The creature looked to be just under a meter tall, though it was a bit hard to determine since it was sitting. It was white with short, coarse, shiny fur. It was adorned with a black vest suit with white undershirt and a red could see that a tail protruded almost to its neck, and its feet were contained within a pair of large brown hiking boots. As it turned to face Yuji, he saw a long snout, and two small, black, beady eyes, one of which had a thick scar running diagonally over it, the skin there shiny and hairless. Overall, the creature had a decidedly rodent-like appearance, even bordering on cute as it held up a teacup and saucer.

"Um All Might? Does the Principal have a pet giant rat?" Yuji asked, eyeing the well dressed animal as it set down the teacup. He was surprised when the animal threw its head back, and laughed or made an approximate sound, almost as if his body wasn't fully capable of such a movement.

"I assure you, I am neither a pet, nor a rat, Mr. Itadori, I am actually your principal. My name is Nezu."

Yuji blinked rapidly at the news, before turning slightly and looking to All Might for confirmation. Seeing his look, the pro nodded slowly, confirming that Yuji was attending a school for Pro Heroes that had an animal for a Principal. Yuji proceeded to explode out of his seat, pointing at Nezu.

"A talking rat is our Principal?! How does a rat talk? Why is he in charge of a school for heroes? Is this ev-"

All Might cut through Yuji's questioning, "Easy Young Itadori!" He mimed sitting back down, and Yuji quickly took his seat again, rapidly looking back and forth between the two. Nezu decided to speak up again.

"To answer your questions slightly out of order Mr. Itadori, humans are not the only ones with quirks. Animals can also have them, though they are considerably more rare. My quirk developed my brain to be even better than a human's, resulting in hyper intelligence." Nezu paused to take another sip of tea, slurping it loudly as he maneuvered the cup gracefully to his snout. "My quirk also resulted in my ability to talk as humans do. As for if this is legal, I assure you, I have worked tirelessly to make it so that quirked animals are afforded all the rights their human counterparts are, and the legislation passed has been beneficial for both humans and animals." Nezu's demeanor was chipper, and Yuji found himself relaxing the more he spoke. The principal took another sip of his tea before continuing.

"Finally, why am I in charge of a school for heroes? There are two simple answers, with very long explanations. I'll tell them to you, but please Mr. Itadori, eat. We only have so long for lunch, and while I'm happy that you are clearly curious, as an educator, I insist you also put your health first." Nezu motioned for Yuji to eat. Yuji gladly took the opportunity to do so, leaning forward to dig into the meal.

He was desperately trying to keep a piece of meatball from escaping onto the table when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He froze, the food halfway to his mouth. It felt like something incredibly dangerous had just entered the room, focusing on him. He glanced at All Might, and to his shock the Symbol of Peace looked nervous, his trademark grin replaced with a terrified smile.

"Before I explain anything else Mr. Itadori, I would like to make one thing especially clear. I am not a rat. Do you understand me?" Nezu's voice was every bit as upbeat and happy as it had been earlier, but now there seemed to be an undertone of danger, as if there was a landmine Yuji had unwittingly stepped on.

"Crystal sir." Yuji managed to gulp out.

The feeling fled the room, and Yuji heard both himself and All Might take a breath. "Now as for why I am in charge. The first reason is that I am both a licensed pro hero and a licensed teacher, with more degrees in psychology, child development, and teaching than anyone else in the world!" Nezu proclaimed excitedly. "The second reason is, put simply, that I care, Mr. Itadori. I care about the state of the world. I care about its past and its future. I care about young people who wish to take the burden of protecting the peace and the future on their shoulders." Nezu's voice was low now, quiet, as if there was a pain he was trying to keep buried.

Nezu took another sip of tea, and Yuji noticed that the principals' cup shook slightly. "I was not treated well when my quirk first manifested, Mr. Itadori, and when I finally was able to do something in the world, I made it my mission to make this world a better place. The best way to do that is by making sure the future generations are better prepared than those of the past." The animal sighed, and then stared into Yuji's eyes. "It would take quite a while to explain everything, but we are not here to discuss myself, we are here to discuss you Mr. Itadori. Specifically, how to train you to better manage your quirk and the recoil you apparently suffer from it. Which brings me back to my original question. Why did you need to talk to All Might?"

Yuji started to chew slower, avoiding meeting the gaze of his principal as he focused on his food. Nezu hummed and continued. "Of course, all of UA's faculty are licensed as both pro heroes and teachers, All Might is no exception to that. Not to mention some of our faculty members have other qualifications like Recovery Girl, Lunch Rush and Hound Dog. That being said, any one of the more experienced teachers would be able to help you update your quirk registration, especially Mr. Aizawa."

Nezu seemed to be working towards something, almost as if he was toying with Yuji, right before he strung him up. "Considering he is your homeroom teacher, and has a vested interest in anything related to you and your quirk, Mr. Aizawa should have been the most logical first choice." Nezu took the chance to stand up and make a small leap onto the coffee table, his tea perfectly balanced.

He then continued, "While I can understand wanting to learn from the number one hero, or simply getting close enough to fawn over an idol; your school records indicate that while not an exemplary student, you were more than capable of holding your own academically, with little need for tutoring. When I reviewed your application, you didn't seem to hold any particular admiration for heroes until almost a year ago. Now that I think about it, I believe you mentioned the incident that inspired you on your application." Nezu walked back and forth on the table, his gaze never leaving Yuji. It made him feel like he was a mouse cornered by a cat.

"If I recall that incident correctly, All Might saved a reckless young man that jumped in to save a woman from a villain, despite that young man not having any training, let alone a license to perform hero work." Nezu's movements on the table were measured, precisely taking the same steps in his pacing. "I digress however, usually young people needing help would seek it from a mentor they trust, or the most easily accessible figure of authority in their lives. All Might would be neither for most students, and you haven't met him anywhere on record outside of his saving of you." The animal finally stopped and faced Yuji fully, setting down the teacup and saucer. "The only reasonable explanation for you to seek out All Might would be if you had a connection and felt a strong bond as a mentor and student, which is odd as there are only two heroes in the entire world that All Might has admitted to training."

Nezu turned to All Might, and Yuji could swear he saw a bead of sweat begin to roll down his forehead. "So I suppose we must go with the unreasonable explanation. Mr. Itadori, is the reason you were looking for All Might because he has been training you to be his successor in secret? Specifically because he can't continue being the Symbol of Peace?" The suited animal calmly leapt back over to the couch All Might sat on, ignoring the sputtering coming from both All Might and Yuji. He then reached over and slammed a paw into All Mights side, specifically at the point Yuji knew contained a massive, purple scar. All Might erupted into smoke as he coughed up blood, a surprised choke erupting from him. As the smoke cleared and the scrawny man Yuji had come to know came into view, Yuji felt his brain and body completely freeze.

Yuji felt like he couldn't breathe, all strength fleeing his body as every secret he had with the number one hero had been revealed in the span of five minutes. He could feel his jaw opening and closing, his mind trying desperately to come up with something, anything, that could possibly explain the situation. Sadly, the only sounds that came out of his mouth were repeated incoherent ramblings.

All Might at least seemed to have his wits about him, even if he clearly hadn't thought he would be sucker punched in his wound. "That was a bit dirty, even for you Nezu. You completely terrified the young man." The sickly pro managed to gasp out, holding up his handkerchief to his mouth to prevent any more blood from flying out of his body.

"My apologies to both of you, but it was just too good of an opportunity to miss. How often do I get to play a little joke on a student and a teacher at the same exact time? With a secret that isn't even illegal to know? Simply too good to pass up." Nezu turned to Yuji, his snout somehow turned into a grin. Yuji took a few seconds to process the information, finally shutting his mouth as the two heroes looked at them.

"You know about-" Yuji's question was interrupted by Nezu's paw slamming over his mouth. "Shhh Mr. Itadori, you must learn discretion. While I am confident no one will overhear us in my office, you really should learn to keep certain things secret. Do you understand?"

Yuji nodded slowly.

"Excellent." Nezu then took his paw off Yuji's mouth and returned to sit by All Might.

"So you know about All Might's injury?" Yuji managed to say this in a normal tone, though it felt odd to say out loud. For months, he had only been able to discuss it with All Might, and barely at that. The pro obviously had issues still accepting that his time in the spotlight was coming to an end.

"Of course I know. All Might told me and a few others, but again this is about you. More specifically, how are you adapting to One for All?"

"Um, I think I'm doing okay. It still hurts to use more than just a part of it, but I can at least use it without blowing up." Yuji rubbed the back of his head as he spoke. "That's part of why I wanted to talk to All Might. I've noticed the quirk is different for me than it was for you, at least when I'm using it."

All Might's brow furrowed. "That does sound odd. I noticed when you use the power you seem to manifest those tattoos." The pro crossed his arms and leaned his head back, cerulean eyes staring at the ceiling. Yuji nodded in confirmation.

"That's not the only thing. My eyes will change color to gray, and my friend noticed something else. When I use more of the power, a cloud of green smoke surrounds me." Yuji said excitedly.

"Smoke?" Nezu asked, not even bothering to hide his curiosity. "That seems a bit odd. I don't recall anything about either of your quirks doing anything like that. Could you show us?" Nezu gestured to the open part of the room towards the door.

Yuji nodded and stood up, both pros focused on him as he took a few steps back. He breathed deeply and focused, activating the powerful quirk once more, starting low and ramping up the power. After experimenting with Junpei last night, he now knew the order that the signs of All Mights' quirk appeared in. First, the tattoos would appear, black angular lines in a tribal pattern. Next, his eyes would change color, his normal brown changing to stone gray. Finally, at the absolute limit of what he could control, a faint green aura started to emanate from his body, starting at his feet and hands. After a few seconds, he forced the power to recede and took his seat opposite.

Nezu was the first to speak. "Fascinating. All Might never exhibited any traits like that. I wonder what the cause of such a change is. Could it be related to your quirk or to One for All itself? We'll have to monitor this as you grow, I'm sure I won't be able to keep Recovery Girl from giving you a thorough examination now."

"Wait, Recovery Girl knows about One for All too?"

At Yuji's words, Nezu calmly took another sip of his tea and then turned expectantly to All Might, somehow manipulating his features as if he had raised his eyebrows at the other pro.

"It never seemed important to tell him who all knew the secret." The pro muttered sheepishly. "There's only a few, and only two are at UA. I thought it more important to focus on training his body to handle the power. It would kill most people if they took it recklessly." All Might deliberately turned and avoided looking at either Yuji or Nezu. Yuji caught sight of Nezu rolling his eyes as he replied.

"You could have at least prepared a better cover story with him. His current story is a borderline quirk awakening and has half the faculty now on edge." Nezu chastised All Might like he was just another student. "I had to let Recovery Girl know that you had passed on the quirk after his acceptance, just so she would stop worrying about getting him in for several tests to make sure he hadn't overdone anything, which is a moot point now. Luckily she managed to calm down Hound Dog after I told her. I might have had to do something drastic otherwise."

"Wait! You're the one who told her? She practically ripped my ear off my head after that first faculty meeting!" All Might's accusation resulted in another full body laugh from Nezu.

"Um, what's a quirk awakening?" Yuji asked, taking the opportunity to get back into the conversation. Nezu turned to him, taking another sip of tea before responding with a question of his own.

"Have you ever heard of hysterical strength, Mr. Itadori?" He paused and waited, continuing when Yuji shook his head. "When a person is placed in a life or death situation, and they truly feel they are about to die, they are often able to unleash the power that their body was holding back. In the days before quirks, this was deemed hysterical strength. After quirks, we came to realize this term was no longer adequate." Nezu's tone had become serious, lecturing quietly. "When people were placed in those situations, especially during the time of the Warlords, it was discovered that quirks could grow in strength spontaneously. They would grow in response to need, and almost every single awakening resulted in such a change that they went out of control." Nezu paused as Yuji raised his hand, nodding to him.

"So if this is a way to grow stronger, why doesn't everyone know about it?" Yuji asked.

This time, it was All Might who answered, his deep voice far more grave than Nezu. "It's essentially an open secret. While awakenings do result in more powerful quirks, they also result in people needing more control for their quirks, not to mention any trauma that might result from how a situation played out. It was decided that it was better to keep people from awakening at all, and to train those who could possibly awaken. In other words, heroes."

"You have to also remember Mr. Itadori that villains would not be above trying to use this same information. Those with far less morals would use this to harm innocents, only wanting to see themselves as new incarnations of the warlords of old. Now do you understand why everyone is so nervous about you?"

Yuji nodded. He had been in what could be seen as a traumatic experience, and he had clearly exhibited what could be seen as crazed behavior. Then months later, he blows away the zero pointer robot in a single blow, a feat that most would associate with All Might. Anyone who knew about awakenings would clearly be thinking that he was a prime example, and a student to watch carefully.

"Wait, does that mean that when I hit Kirishima the other day they thought that was me reliving some kind of trauma?" Yuji asked the two heroes, worried now that his teachers might have perceived him as some kind of threat.

All Might shrugged. "I didn't, but I could easily see some of the others looking at it that way." Nezu hopped off the couch and walked toward the desk, grabbing a paper off the top before returning and handing it to Yuji.

"Don't worry Mr. Itadori, the purpose of this meeting is to not only set up a training schedule so that you gain a greater understanding of your abilities, but to also assuage all the faculty that are concerned you are a timebomb. Don't worry though, you don't have to worry about a thing. I've already taken the liberty of building you a training schedule!" Nezu exclaimed happily.

Yuji looked it over, and noticed that the wording and design of the schedule felt familiar. He looked up at the principal. "This looks exactly like the plan All Might gave me months ago, when he first started training me to handle…One…for…All." Yuji's eyes widened and snapped his attention back to the sheet of paper, paling as he noticed exactly how detailed the plan was, and exactly how much training he was going to be undergoing both inside school and out.

Nezu laughed evilly. "Of course it does Mr. Itadori, I built that plan for All Might as well, sadly we just don't have nearly as much time as that plan allowed for. We need to have you in decent control as soon as possible, not just for safety reasons, but because anything less would just not be acceptable for UA. You won't die Mr. Itadori, but I will bring you right to the brink." The smile Nezu wore would have been at home on a shark. That he could somehow smile like a villain while drinking from a cup of tea did not make Yuji feel any better.

All Might clapped his hands, pulling their attention back to the scrawny hero. "I'm sure you'll do just fine, Young Itadori. You handled the previous training well, but now we'll focus on far more. Embrace our school motto! Go Beyond! Plus Ultra!" All Might activated his quirk, buffing up while wearing his famous smile and giving Yuji a thumbs up.

Yuji smiled back and returned the thumbs up with one of his own, "Right! Oh and before I forget, can we update my quirk's name? That's what I wanted anyway."

Both the adults looked at each other and nodded, with All Might being the one to speak. "So long as you don't wish to publicly call out One for All, I think that's fine."

Yuji waved off their concerns. "I'm not that dumb. I think Junpei came up with an awesome name though, I'd like to call my quirk Divergent Strength!"


Omake: It's always the ones in the spotlight

"The only reasonable explanation for you to seek out All Might would be if you had a connection and felt a strong bond as a mentor and student, which is odd as there are only two heroes in the entire world that All Might has admitted to training."

Nezu turned to All Might, and Yuji could swear he saw a bead of sweat begin to roll down his forehead. "So I suppose we must go with the unreasonable explanation.

Nezu looked at All Might and Yuji could swear he saw the pro stiffen, mirroring his imitation of a statue. Nezu pulled out a stuffed teddy bear. It had button eyes and was about half the size of the suited animal. "Mr. Itadori, could you point out exactly where All Might touched you on this teddy bear? I'm afraid I'll also need to record it, the world just won't believe it otherwise." Nezu said holding up a cell phone.

Yuji froze, his eyes sliding to All Might. The Pro was frozen, his eyes wide in disbelief. They grew even further when Yuji said, "He didn't touch me, but he did tell me to eat something."

Nezu tutted, and patted Yuji on the hand. "Don't worry Mr. Itadori, I will personally make sure that the world knows that even the symbol of peace is not above the law." The principal turned back to All Might, and fire blazed in his black eyes. "I was never your educator All Might, but I now see that I failed the world by not making sure you understood who really is in charge."

That day, a world record was set as every glass window within three kilometers of UA was broken instantly by a girlish scream, and the cry was heard the world over. UA claimed it as a training incident, and All Might was never seen wearing his skin tight costume in public ever again.


A/N: Thank you to Arrixam, Manatris and GeneralMoose2nd for beta reading this. I apologize for not having this out sooner, I struggled with this one for several reasons and re-wrote it at least 3 different times before I was happy enough with it. The Omake at the end is the result of a joke I decided to play on Mana after about 3 days of waiting for some feedback, I wouldn't expect many of them. I hope everyone had a good new year, and that 2025 is a good year for everyone.

As always, thank you for continuing to read. See y'all in the next one!